USH unit 9 vocab

John F. Kennedy

35th U.S. president, led during the Cold War, assassinated in 1963.

John Glenn

First American to orbit Earth in 1962.

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th U.S. president, passed Civil Rights Act and Great Society programs.

Great Society

LBJ’s programs to fight poverty and racial injustice.

Anti-War Movement

Protests against the Vietnam War.

Feminist Movement

Pushed for women's rights and equality.

Betty Friedan

Wrote The Feminine Mystique, helped start the women’s rights movement.

Title IX

Banned sex discrimination in education.

Black Power Movement

Called for racial pride and self-defense.

Black Panthers

Militant group for Black rights, provided community services.

Chicano Movement

Fought for Mexican American rights.

César Chávez

Led farmworker strikes for better wages and conditions.

Dolores Huerta

Co-founded United Farm Workers, fought for labor rights.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

Fought for Native American rights.

Hernandez v. Texas

Ended racial discrimination in juries.

Tinker v. Des Moines

Protected students' free speech in schools.

Vietnam War

Cold War conflict in Vietnam; U.S. withdrew in 1973.

Domino Theory

Belief that if one country fell to communism, others would follow.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Gave LBJ power to escalate the Vietnam War.

Vietnamization

Nixon’s plan to withdraw U.S. troops and train South Vietnamese forces.

Roy Benavidez

Vietnam War hero, Medal of Honor recipient.

Tet Offensive

Major North Vietnamese attack that weakened U.S. support for war.

Credibility Gap

Public distrust of government statements about Vietnam.

Silent Majority

Nixon’s term for Americans who supported the war but stayed quiet.

Fall of Saigon

1975 event marking the end of the Vietnam War.

Civil Disobedience

Peacefully breaking laws to protest injustice.

Affirmative Action

Policies to increase minority representation in jobs and schools.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights leader, led nonviolent protests, assassinated in 1968.

Malcolm X

Civil rights leader, promoted Black empowerment, assassinated in 1965.

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

MLK’s defense of nonviolent protest.

Jim Crow Laws

Segregation laws in the South.

24th Amendment

Banned poll taxes in voting.

26th Amendment

Lowered voting age to 18.

Emmett Till

Black teen lynched in 1955; his death sparked the Civil Rights Movement.

Dennis Banks

Co-founded AIM, fought for Native American rights.

Thurgood Marshall

First Black Supreme Court Justice, won Brown v. Board of Education.

Brown v. Board of Education

Ended school segregation.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Allowed segregation under 'separate but equal.'

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Banned segregation in jobs, schools, and public places.

Civil Rights Act of 1965

Ended barriers like literacy tests for Black voters.